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You're listening to episode 69 of Jimmy Aiken's mysterious world,

where we look at mysteries from the twin perspectives of faith and reason.

In this episode, we're talking about Pope Joan.

I'm Dom Bethenelli and joining me today is Jimmy Aiken. Hi Jimmy. Howdy Dom.

So the word Pope is based on the Latin and Greek words for Father.

But for centuries, many people believe that one of the Popes was actually a mother in the literal

sense. The story goes that in the Middle Ages, Pope John was traveling down a Roman street in

procession when suddenly he gave birth to a baby proving he was a woman.

When thus was born, the legend of Pope Joan. And that's what we'll be talking about on this

episode of Jimmy Aiken's mysterious world. So Jimmy first, let's mention that this is a patron's

episode. Yeah, every month we asked the patrons at Patreon what they would like to hear about and

this month they picked the topic of Pope Joan. Why wouldn't you? It's a fascinating mystery.

Who was the first person whose work we have that mentions Pope Joan?

He was a French Dominican named Jean de Miley or Jean de Miley. I have to apologize. I haven't

yet studied French phonology. And he was a chronicler, meaning he was a kind of historian working

in the French city of Metz in 1250. He wrote a work called the Chronica Universalist Metensis or

the Universal Chronicle of Metz in which he mentions Pope Joan. And what did he say about her? He

located Pope Joan in the year 1099, about 150 years before his own time. And he wrote concerning a

certain Pope or rather a female Pope who has not set down on the list of Popes or bishops of Rome

...